


Family

by Jestana



Series: Life and Death [4]
Category: RED (2010)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-10
Updated: 2010-12-10
Packaged: 2017-10-13 14:54:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/138584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jestana/pseuds/Jestana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Family is important</p>
            </blockquote>





	Family

**Author's Note:**

> Beta by and co-written with unicorn_catcher on LJ. Rating for subtle hints at naughtiness.

**Family**

  
After listening to the recording of the conversation between Cooper and the kidnapper, Frank went outside and found him sitting on the porch steps, his head in his hands. Without a word, he sat down beside the younger man. After a short silence, the brunette lowered his hands so he could speak. "At least you didn't _take_ my family. Just threatened to do it."

"I wouldn't have hurt them," he told the agent quietly, his hands clasped between his knees. "I just wanted to make sure Sarah would be safe."

Cooper laughed bitterly. "It worked perfectly, just as you intended."

"It gave you the chance to do the right thing, didn't it?" he pointed out with a faint smile.

The other man nodded, his voice still bitter. "Yes, and it led to _this_."

"How do you mean?" Frank glanced at the younger man in surprise. _Is he blaming **me**?_

Rubbing his eyes tiredly, Cooper explained, "By doing the right thing, it got Dunning killed--not that he didn't deserve it--and my family somehow ended up as leverage so this bastard can have his revenge."

"We're going to get them back and we'll do it _without_ giving him Marvin in return." Frank lifted one hand to squeeze his shoulder reassuringly. "In order to do that, though, we need your help. Come on back inside."

He turned to look at him, his gaze bleak. "What good am I? It's _my_ family out there!"

"That's actually _exactly_ why you should help us. You know them best." Frank hoped his words would encourage Cooper.

Frowning, the agent glanced at him. "What do you mean?"

"We cloned your phone so we could record any conversations you had with another party," Frank explained, getting to his feet and offering his hand to the younger man. "In this case, the kidnapper. We think there's a reason your son mentioned going to the beach with you."

Ignoring the offered hand, the brunette got to his feet. "You think he was trying to give me a clue about where they are or something?"

"Exactly." Frank hid a grin as Cooper followed him inside. _Just gotta keep him focused..._

* * *

  
They were still gathered around the kitchen table, trying to pinpoint exactly _which_ beach Matthew had meant when Marvin returned, waving a sheaf of papers around. "I found something _very_ interesting in the public records!"

"Marvin, we're a little busy here," Frank told him without looking up from the map.

Ignoring Frank, Marvin addressed the youngest man present. "Agent Cooper. You were adopted, yes?" All of them looked up at that, their attention on the brunette, who nodded.

"Yeah, but I've known that since I was eight. So what?" He glanced at Frank as if to ask him what to do.

Frank waved a hand, sitting down with a sigh. "Just humour him. He's like a dog with a bone when he gets going."

"Thanks, Frank." Marvin glared at him as all of them took seats. Victoria was glad Ivan had had to leave the room to answer a phone call from the embassy, suspecting what their paranoid friend was getting at with his questions. "Did your parents tell you anything about your birth mother?"

The agent shook his head. "Not really. They said they only met her once, and then adopted me the day I was born."

"That's because Victoria's your mother." Marvin gestured to her with a flourish of his papers.

Her heart stopped in her chest at the confirmation of her suspicions and she got up to look out the window. She didn't want to have all those eyes on her as she attempted to keep control of emotions that were already fragile because the kidnapping hit so close to home for her. Victoria flinched when Frank asked quietly. "Is he right?"

"I gave birth to a son in 1968," she whispered, not turning around. "And the couple who adopted him had the last name Cooper."

After a long silence, Cooper exclaimed, "Wait...you shot at me!"

"How was I to know that you were my long lost son?!" she gladly channeled her emotions into annoyance as she turned to yell at him.

He didn't back down, blue eyes blazing. "You gave me up!"

"I didn't have a choice! How else was I to protect you both?" she demanded, realizing the moment the words were out that she'd said too much.

Cooper picked up on her slip of the tongue, "Wait--wait-- _both_?"

Victoria sighed, resigned to telling the rest, "Both..."

"I have a brother or sister?" He sounded hopeful now, his anger gone for the moment.

Folding her arms across her chest, ignoring the others for the moment, she told him, "You have a sister, William."

"Do you know who she is?" His expression was eager now and she didn't blame him. To learn you had more family than you thought...

She shook her head reluctantly, wishing she _did_ know. "No. If I did I would have told you, don't you think?"

"I can tell you who she is!" Marvin chimed in, a smirk on his face.

Victoria glowered at him at that. It was thanks to him they were having this conversation when they should be thinking about William's wife and children. "You've done quite en-- you what?"

"Who?" The younger man rounded on Marvin.

Gesturing with the papers again, he answered simply, "Sarah."

"Sarah," Victoria repeated, surprised. "Sarah who? _Our_ Sarah? Francis' Sarah?"

Stunned, the younger woman quickly shook her head. "Wait a minute--that can't be right! I wasn't adopted!"

"Yes, you were. Here are the papers." Marvin crossed to her side to show them to her.

Sarah stared at the papers in stunned disbelief. "Oh, God..." She reached for Frank's hand, holding tight to it. "My life was a _lie_! I think I'm going to pass out..." She leaned forward and put her head between her knees.

"It's not that bad, is it?" Victoria asked, more worried by Sarah's reaction than William's.

Sitting up after a few moments, Sarah sarcastically retorted, "Oh, no, of course not. You only threatened to shoot me and bury me in the woods."

"How many times do I have to apologize for my own ignorance?" She groaned in exasperation.

William gave her a disbelieving look. "You threatened to kill your own daughter?"

"Now, let's just all calm down and have a seat," Frank interrupted then, gesturing for quiet.

Ivan entered the room just then, concerned and suspicious. "What is all the commotion?"

"Apparently, the love of your life didn't tell you she was pregnant before she 'killed' you," Frank informed the other man before anyone else could say anything.

If looks could kill, Victoria would have killed Frank just then. " _FRANCIS!_ "

"Frank! Really?" Ivan looked from Frank to Victoria, his expression full of surprise and hope.

William pointed at his father, eyebrows raised. "You tried to kill him, too?"

"If I hadn't loved him so much, I _would_ have." She rubbed her forehead then. _Marvin, this couldn't have waited?_

Ivan tapped his head, smiling wryly. "Is true. Trust me." He turned to Victoria, his voice gentle. "You were pregnant and never told me?"

"I'd found out right before I received my orders," she explained, willing him to understand. "I didn't see the point since you were going to be dead."

Sarah addressed William, blue eyes wide. "We're twins?"

"Apparently so." His voice was ironic when he replied.

Frank raised his voice slightly to catch their attention. "Could we focus here?"

"I'd have liked to have known regardless." Ivan ignored Frank for the moment, lifting a hand to lightly caress Victoria's cheek.

Marvin, of course, had to comment: "This is some hell of a family reunion..."

"Marvin!" Ivan sent a glare Marvin's way.

Frank also glared. "You're not helping!"

"It's all _your_ fault, you paranoid idiot!" Victoria added, taking Ivan's hand in her own as she added her glare to his and Frank's.

A little taken aback by their glares, Marvin snapped, "Hey, if not for me, you still wouldn't know who your children are or be able to spend time with them now."

"Don't try to justify this, you walking science project!" She started towards him, not sure what she was going to do, but determined to do _something_.

Ivan held onto her hand, though, keeping her from following through on her thought. "Calm down, ZAychik moy. He has a good point."

"What did he just call her?" Sarah glanced at Frank inquiringly.

Before he could explain, Victoria told him with a sweetly deadly smile, "Francis, if you tell her, I _will_ shoot you."

"Now you're overreacting." Ivan pulled her into a hug her and kissed her chastely.

As Victoria leaned into his kiss, distracted, William commented, "Now _I_ need to sit down."

"Can I tell her?" Marvin asked hopefully. Rather than take the time to end the kiss and tell him 'no', Victoria flipped him off without ending the kiss. "Would you stop doing that?!"

As Ivan gently ended the kiss, Frank observed, "This is such a small world..."

"I need a drink." William stated, sounding a little stunned.

Sarah nodded her agreement as Ivan found Victoria's brandy to pour a shot for William. "Make that two."

"See? You guys are thinking alike already!" Marvin told them as Ivan pulled out more snifters.

William and Sarah spoke at the same time: "Shut up, Marvin!"

"Yep, thinking _and_ talking alike. Definitely twins." He nodded sagely.

That time, all of them shouted together, "SHUT UP, MARVIN!"

"Ok, ok, enough." Frank winced and waved his hands as Ivan distributed the drinks. "Everyone have a seat. Now."

Ivan sat down and pulled Victoria over to sit with him on the settee. She looked up at him hopefully. "Am I forgiven for not telling you?"

"For now." He kissed her cheek and she understood that it was contingent upon a fuller explanation of her reasons.

"Thanks to Marvin's need to research anyone and everyone he's had dealings with, we now know some interesting truths," Frank stated, sitting down with an arm around Sarah's shoulders.

Marvin snorted, cautiously tasting his brandy. "Interesting..that's putting it mildly."

"Shut up, Marvin." Frank growled at his one-time opponent.

"Fine!" Marvin gave an annoyed huff and tossed his drink back.

His voice calmer, Frank turned to her expectantly. "Victoria?"

"You have to understand...we were young," she began, speaking more to her brandy glass than anyone else. "We didn't think we'd be discovered if we were careful enough. When I learned that I was pregnant, I was still trying to decide what to do when my bastard of a handler gave me the assignment to kill Ivan. You have no idea how much it hurt to have to hear that I was being ordered to kill him--especially now that I was carrying his children! I had no choice! Once the deed had been done, I moved here to the US and, after you two were born, I did the only thing I could think of to make sure you stayed safe--I gave you up."

After a short silence that seemed much longer to Victoria, Sarah asked, "You've never, in all those years, sought us out? You just forgot about us?"

"I never forgot, but I couldn't search you out, otherwise there'd have been no point to giving you up in the first place." She covered her face with her free hand, trying hard not to break down.

Surprisingly, William agreed with her! "She's right, you know. Logically, she couldn't have searched for us without compromising our security until she knew for sure that the danger had been eliminated. She only did what any good mother would do: she made sure we were safe even if it meant that we'd never know her."

"Thank you, William." She offered him a shaky smile, leaning into Ivan, grateful when his arm encircled her shoulders.

Sarah raised her hand then, as if she was still in school. "I have a question." After a moment of hesitation, she asked, "Are William and Sarah the names you gave us?"

"Yes." She nodded, tears escaping in spite of her efforts to keep them at bay. "Your adoptive parents could have changed them, but I'm so very glad that they didn't!"

Sarah nodded back, her own eyes welling up now. "It's a pretty name..." She handed her empty glass to Frank and, standing up, crossed to where Victoria sat, opening her arms for a hug. "Hi, Mom."

"You don't know how long I've waited to see you and hear you call me that!" She barely noticed Ivan taking her empty glass, standing up and hugging Sarah, her tears falling freely now. _She's my daughter!_

Sarah returned the hug, resting her cheek against Victoria's hair. They watched Ivan set aside the glasses, stand, and cross over to where William remained seated, clearly at a loss as to what to do or say. "How does it feel to learn who your biological parents are?"

"I'm still processing it all," William replied with a wry smile. "Like I said, I knew I was adopted, but my parents didn't tell me anything about my birth mother because that was what she wanted." He glanced at Victoria. "I always wondered why and now I know."

Victoria pulled back from Sarah, wiping at her eyes. "I'm sorry you had to find out this way. It's not how I imagined this meeting, when I allowed myself to think about it."

"You know, the only people in this room who've managed to shoot me are William and Victoria," Frank observed thoughtfully.

Marvin couldn't resist making a comment then, "Like mother like son."

Ignoring Marvin, William stood up to approach Victoria. Smiling down at her, he said softly, "Hi, Mom."

"Hi, Son." Smiling back, she hesitantly opened her arms. Much to her delight, William hugged her, still a little dazed by everything he'd learned. "Oh, you're both so beautiful!" She tugged Sarah into the hug.

"They get it from their mother." Ivan informed her as he joined the group hug.

Victoria laughed, feeling very happy now. "Gooey inside, that's what you are."

"I thought I was full of fluff?" he retorted playfully.

Sarah made a vaguely disgusted face, "Ok, awkward."

"Yeah," William agreed as he and Sarah pulled back from the hug and the others laughed softly, breaking the tension a little more.

Ivan simply smiled and pulled Victoria close for another kiss. She melted into him gladly, forgetting the others for the moment. Unfortunately, Marvin refused to be ignored. "I say again: You two are how old again?" This time, it was Ivan who flipped Marvin off without breaking the kiss. "Well, _that's_ different."

"You getting flipped off seems to be a regular occurrence," Frank remarked as Ivan and Victoria pulled apart.

Marvin shrugged. "Yeah. I can't imagine why."

"Your timing is atrocious, that's why," Victoria informed him regally.

Ivan squeezed her shoulders gently. "As opposed to terrible?"

" _You_ didn't interrupt them at an inopportune moment," Victoria reminded him with a wry smile, remembering the occasion when Marvin had interrupted them.

He nodded, returning the smile. "Is true."

"I _really_ don't want to know." Sarah shook her head, wincing a little.

William snatched the papers from Marvin just then, his eyes widening, "I just thought of something."

"What is it?" Frank, his arm around Sarah's waist, frowned at the younger man.

William divided the papers between himself and Sarah."If I'm the son of a diplomat, doesn't that mean something like this is now an international incident?"

"Technically, no." Ivan shook his head reluctantly. "You'd have to be officially recognized as my son first and that's a lot of paperwork."

"We've never really followed the rules before," Victoria reminded him, her eyes narrowing as it registered that this kidnapping was much more personal now. Those people were her daughter-in-law and grandchildren now. "Family is more important, wouldn't you say?"

He smiled faintly, stroking her cheek. "Da, it is." Ivan looked at his son. "Have you remembered which beach you and your family visited when Matthew asked you about the birds by the docks?"

William thought for a moment and then his expression brightened. "We never visited a beach near the docks, but we _did_ visit the docks. I just can't figure out where they would be hiding there..." Frank looked at the map over William's shoulder and suddenly snatched it off the table and out from under William's nose.

"Not beach near the docks but Beach by the docks," Frank said, pointing to a spot on the map. "Beach Ave runs along the waterfront near the industrial shipyards."

"You think that they're in one of the buildings in the shipyards?" Sarah asked with a frown.

He raised his eyebrows as he asked in return, "Where else would you discreetly conduct business that could get noisy?"

"This is all a little too stereotypical for me," Marvin said, squinting at the map. "There's too much open space--security would be a nightmare."

Victoria shook her head, thinking back to her early training, "Or it could be just the opposite. Think about it--if you can see for hundreds of yards around, you can quite easily keep track of everything going on if you have enough manpower."

"This is all very enlightening, but it all begs the question: Where is it and how are we going to get in? We also still haven't figured out how to get around handing over Marvin," Frank reminded them.

Shrugging, Marvin suggested, "I could 'die' again."

Frank thought about this, looked at his friends, and Ivan suddenly grinned. "Sleight of hand,"

"What's that mean?" asked Sarah, looking puzzled.

Victoria stared at the man she loved for a moment and then her eyes widened as she suddenly figured out what he was talking about. "We give him Marvin but we don't."

"A Trojan horse?" William asked, looking hopeful.

A little plaintively, Marvin asked, "Does this mean I'm not 'dying' after all?"

 **End**


End file.
